It's hard to describe just how wrong March 32 looks to me
So, I haven't been gaming too much recently, but I've made a pretty decent dent into Final Fantasy XIII. I'm around 20 hours in so far and it has been a largely enjoyable experience. It has cloud saves and works on the Steam Deck so it has been nice to have the option to hop between PC and Deck as I see fit. Overall, I think FFXIII is a strong game but I can see why it's controversial.
For the good stuff, the game still looks good despite being over a decade old, and the environments are extremely diverse. The music is very strong as with most FF games, and the story and characters have been solid as well. There are issues with the story (it can be a bit hard to parse with weird fantasy jargon), but on a broad level it's entertaining and engaging. The combat is pretty solid overall, but I don't totally love it. I've never been fully sold on hybrid systems of real-time and turn-based. It's not that they are awful or anything, but I'd really just prefer full turn-based or full action combat. The middle ground is just a bit awkward for me, despite leaning towards enjoying it in the case of FFXIII.
The main drawback of the game - and one that has been well documented - is that it is extremely linear. In and of itself, I would normally be fine with this detail, but I think it amplifies weaknesses of the game due to it's structure. For example, while I largely like the combat, I don't totally love it, and because the game is so linear there is very little to break up the combat sessions (and this is especially relevant in combat-heavy sections) with stuff like exploration. Thus, the combat actually irritates more that I think it really would if I had more time to breathe a bit between encounters. It's just a bit too limiting, even for someone who has a high tolerance for very linear games, generally speaking.
All that being considered though, I am enjoying FFXIII and I do intend to complete it. As an aside, it has been interesting to play games less as I feel like it allows me to dig a little deeper into the games I do get around to. I've been chipping away at FFXIII for quite awhile now, but I feel like it has been nice to sit with a game for awhile and think on it more.